Oliver Lacroix

Name: Oliver Lacroix

Gender: Male

Age: 18

Grade: 12

School: George Hunter High School

Hobbies and Interests: Gambling, Working on his car, Partying

Appearance: Oliver is somewhat on the tall side of his class, standing at a lanky height and weight of 6'1", and 160 pounds, respectively. His carefully slicked back brown hair, as well as his typical outfit consisting of a black leather jacket and torn jeans all combine to provide the desired appearance of a delinquent. This together with the thin lipped, sardonic smile frequently seen on his wide face and the mad gleam that so often visible in the green eyes below his thick eyebrows leaves off the impression of a figure that the more straight-laced students at George Hunter High would prefer not to get involved with. The only part of him that conflicts with this image are the freckles across his thin, olive-skinned face, making him look slightly younger than he actually is.

On the day of the abduction, he was wearing a white t-shirt, faded blue jeans and brown sneakers. Despite the summer heat, he also brought along his customary favourite jacket, keeping it slung over his shoulder as he boarded the bus.

Biography: Oliver was born on January 30th, 2000, to John and Kate Lacroix, a mechanic and an elementary school teacher, respectively. Despite the objections of Kate's family due to the relatively short time the two had been seeing each other after meeting at a get-together with a group of mutual friends, they married shortly before Oliver was born. However, the concerns of Kate's parents were not without foundation, and conflicts of personality soon began to arise between the newly married couple, with John's carefree and impulsive nature clashing with his wife's fastidious attitude towards her daily responsibilities. The rift between the two of them grew with every passing year, eventually culminating in legal separation when Oliver, their only child, was four years old.

Oliver spent much of his early life shuffled between his two parents, due to the terms of their joint custody agreement. While their differences were too great to allow them to continue living together as husband and wife, the two of them recognized that it would be unfair to their son to deny him access to the other parent, leading them to agree on him spending an approximately equal amount of time per week with each of them. While at first saddened by this dramatic change to his family's lifestyle, he soon came to accept it as his recollection of his life before the separation faded into a distant memory.

Despite his mother's best intentions, it became increasingly apparent as Oliver grew up that he took more after his father than his mother. As the years passed, the wedge between him and his mother widened as his lack of care towards school and chores left her no choice but to frequently nag him about his responsibilities, as John had clearly chosen his place as the permissive parent, treating Oliver like one of his adult friends and letting him do whatever he wanted at home. The influence of his mother was luckily strong enough to keep him from failing his classes, but just barely. His grades, both in elementary and high school frequently approached the bottom of his class and his indifferent attitude towards his assignments and classroom lectures has left few of his teachers happy to see his face when he shows up to school. On some level, Oliver appreciates his mother’s care towards him, though he unfortunately views her desire to motivate him as merely excessive nagging, with his willingness to listen to her growing weaker and weaker with every passing day. After he finishes school he plans to work in an auto shop like his father. Though his lax attitude towards school puts into question whether he will even be able to graduate, he has made at least a slight effort to keep his grades above a failing level, as having no high school diploma could potentially preclude any vocational training for the job that he would like. This issue with his grades is another contributing factor that pushes his relationship with his mother into an even more distant one. Though she is pleased to see him trying slightly harder than usual in his final year, she still feels that he is not applying himself nearly as much as he could. Her desire to see him reach his full potential, academically, has lead to a myriad of arguments during the time he would spend at her house. Despite all this, he still does love his mother, and would balk at the idea of completely cutting her out of his life. Despite their inability to see eye to eye on a variety of issues, their time together is not constant fighting, and Oliver still has many pleasant memories of his time with his mother.

As Oliver reached his early teen years, his parents have allowed him to choose which one he would stay with at any given time, rather than being shuffled back and forth on a schedule. As one might expect, this has lead to him spending the bulk of his time at his father's house, enjoying his father's lack of concern towards his frequent late night parties at the homes of various friends and acquaintances and not infrequent drinking. Oliver has been a regular in the party scene at George Hunter since his junior year, having established a reputation for reckless and irresponsible behavior that, while definitely a hindrance to his academic success, has nevertheless left him quite entertaining to be around, with stories of his ridiculous exploits frequently shared in gossip around the school, though many of the stories have become fairly exaggerated in the telling. Though he never drinks enough to seriously impair himself, mainly due to the fact his friends can rarely secure enough to actually achieve such a state, the loosening of his inhibitions nevertheless contributes to what he considers one of the most enjoyable part of the events, the ability to let loose and do whatever he feels like doing in a mostly appreciative environment. He makes a point never to turn down a dare, and will frequently go and above and beyond what is asked of him. Lucky for him, he hasn't had any run-ins with the law or had any serious injuries, other than the time in his junior year when he fell and broke his arm while attempting to drunkenly scale the outside of an abandoned building to get into a second floor window. The grounding that he got from his mother when he refused to tell her how that happened kept him out of trouble for a couple months, though he eventually returned to his old habits, and at this point it's only a matter of time until something serious happens.

His father, a social drinker himself during his younger years, doesn’t see his son’s behavior as a problem, just a young person having some fun. Of course, he doesn’t know the full extent of what happens at those parties, but never really cares to ask either. Oliver’s mother, on the other hand, definitely disapproves of his activities, and his tried many times to put a stop to it, with little success. While grounding and other punishments have put a damper on his behavior while he is staying with her, the two of them seem to have reached an impasse, with Oliver unwilling to put in an effort to reform himself, and his mother afraid to push him even further away from her by cracking down too hard on him. She instead has put her focus on encouraging him to increase the level of care he is putting into school, seeing his recent increased amount of effort as a good start, and fears that without her influence, any improvement that he has experienced will soon fade away.

Another habit that Oliver has picked up from his father is John's love of cars. Shortly after he received his driver's license, his parents, in an act of cooperation that has become increasingly rare by this point in his life, gifted him with an old model car, which he drives around any chance he gets. He also spends a considerable amount of time tinkering with and customizing his car using his father’s tools, perhaps one of the few constructive things he does with his free time. On nights where he has no plans with friends, he likes take it to deserted back roads and drive it around, experimenting with how fast he can go while still maintaining control of the car. Though he has had a couple close calls as to being seen, he has thankfully never been in any accidents, as the activity, while something he enjoys, is something he can only do rarely as he has to pay for his own gas, and as such cannot go driving nearly as much as he would like to. He occasionally fantasizes about going into racing, though voicing that idea to his father resulted in a rare response of disapproval. John still vividly remembers the death of NASCAR champion Dale Earnhardt during the 2001 Daytona 500, and has been able to persuade his son out of picking racing as a career, or at least out of mentioning the idea to either of his parents.

Discovered during both his partying experience and frequent poker games with his father's friends is Oliver's third and final love, gambling. Though his father’s friends rarely end up betting much money, if at all, the experience has given Oliver a strong taste for the game, and a desire to take things much farther than he can at home. He loves the thrill that he gets from games of chance, and will never turn down a bet. The fact that he hasn't yet gotten himself into serious financial trouble with his frequent wagers further contributes to his feelings of invincibility, though it is rare when he finds himself in a state of neither owing someone money nor attempting to collect a debt from someone else. Though he has a special love for poker, he has also taught himself to play a variety of card and dice games, and is quick to pick up the rules for a new game once it catches his interest.

He is generally well-liked around school, though his social circle doesn't interact with many of the more responsible students in the community. Regardless, he is fairly relaxed with who he associates with, holding no prejudices and being pretty accepting of others' differences. Those that owe him money, on the other hand, find that he is shockingly persistent in collecting what he believes is his, and has cause more than a little bad blood between him and those whose reluctance to pay their debts hinders his ability to pay his own.

Advantages: Oliver is fairly popular amongst his classmates, and will likely not have trouble finding allies. In addition, his relative fearlessness compared to his fellow students will keep him from hesitating or panicking during dangerous situations.

Disadvantages: Oliver is extremely impulsive and reckless, which could lead to him endangering himself and others through poor decision making. He’s also made a few enemies among other gamblers at school who may desire to settle old scores on the island.

Designated Number: Male Student No. 061

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Designated Weapon: Butterfly knife

Conclusion: Between all your vices, I can see you like to live life in the moment, B061. That's good, because with your decison-making skills, you don't have much of that life left to live. - Jim Greynolds

'The above biography is as written by Skraal. No edits or alterations to the author's original work have been made.'

Evaluations
Handled by: Skraal

Kills: None

Killed By: Erika Stieglitz

Collected Weapons: Butterfly knife (assigned weapon)

Allies: Christine Bright, Diego Larrosa

Enemies: 

Mid-game Evaluation: 

Post-Game Evaluation: 

Memorable Quotes:

Threads
Below is a list of threads containing Oliver, in chronological order.

V7 Pregame: V7:
 * Yoga Fire
 * Love & Money
 * before the day is done, my prince is gonna come
 * no garren there will be no cbt on my murder island
 * Sittin' On The Dock Of The Bay
 * Leviathan

Your Thoughts
''Whether you were a fellow handler in SOTF or just an avid reader of the site, we'd like to know what you thought about Oliver Lacroix. What did you like, or dislike, about the character? Let us know here!''
 * Oliver is another character who didn't get to do a ton in Pregame, but I actually think his one thread provides some solid characterization for him, as he makes his way through an impromptu yoga lesson courtesy of Cheridene while knowing nothing whatsoever about yoga. I appreciate that Oliver's narrative is willing to let him kind of be the butt of the joke here, and yet at the same time it avoids devolving into total farce. We get some good insights into how he thinks, his willingness to try new things (to a point), and the lengths to which he'll go in an attempt to flirt.

Oliver's vibe and voice continues strong into his opening in-game. Unfortunately, however, while his first post is great stuff, he gets caught up in one of the more crowded and muddled V7 starting threads, exchanging repeated greetings before departing for greener pastures along with a very hefty group indeed. They land at the pier, and Oliver witnesses Ty's killing of Christine, but due to wrinkles of pacing is mostly sidelined and skipped during this sequence, aside from a couple of brief reaction shots. This all leaves Oliver a rather peripheral figure in his first two threads, which is a shame because as a character without a whole lot behind him he struggles a bit to distinguish himself for readers.

Oliver's next two threads repeat some elements of this process, as he finds himself present for the beginnings of the disastrous alliance between Aoi, Garren, and Parker, and then stumbles upon Madison and Nathan in their first encounter post-poisoning debacle. These are scenes with a lot of potential, but Oliver himself always feels just a bit too tentative, floating on the fringes and taking a very measured approach, and dipping out to try again elsewhere when he fails to find a hook. It's not a terrible thing in isolation, but the result of it coming up again and again is that Oliver is left without much of a trajectory or much in the way or personal stakes and conflicts.

Oliver's death thread, at least, works to combat this some, bringing back some regrets about his family and then leaping straight into action as he identifies and tries to get the drop on Erika, one of the bigger threats in play, without too much success. This is the most vital Oliver's been in some time just in his own narrative, and the decision to lean into the horrific nature of gunshot injuries works well on a visceral level, making his demise really brutal and seeing him off with some unusual parting thoughts. It's not a big arc-defining kill for Erika, or some grand culmination for Oliver, but given his path to this point I think it works pretty well and is nice and memorable, with the image of his jaw destruction being one that lingers uncomfortably.

So, at his core, I think Oliver's a character who had a lot of potential and whose voice was great when it was switched on, but who never found his footing and couldn't ever quite squeeze what he wanted out of his scenes, at least until his death. Honestly, looking him over again, I'd say he's a prime contender for Second Chances due to that; I think a take that pulls the best parts of his voice and characterization and gives him more of a chance to be an active participant could be really cool. - MurderWeasel